Health

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Gay couple files first-of-its-kind class action against NYC for IVF benefits

A gay couple filed a first-of-its-kind class action lawsuit against New York City on Thursday alleging that the city’s health insurance plan is discriminatory because it doesn’t cover in vitro fertilization, or IVF, for male couples.  The lawsuit is the latest development in what has become a yearslong effort by the couple to get the city to change its IVF benefits, which the couple argues makes accommodations for heterosexual and lesbian couples, and for single women. Corey Briskin and Nicholas Maggipinto said they have been talking about having children since 2014, ahead of their engagement. They planned to use a […]

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The FDA grants trans-inclusive at-home cervical screening device a priority review

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a priority review for a trans-inclusive cervical screening at-home test to become approved in the US, and we think it’s high time for a change. For women, trans and non-binary people with uteruses, undergoing a regular cervical smear to prevent and detect cervical cancer can be an unpleasant experience due to the cold and down-right uncomfortable speculum used. Some gender-diverse people also experience gender-based discrimination in such appointments. The outdated device used in pelvic appointments to separate the vaginal walls can be cold and uncomfortable. The clamp-like instrument was invented in […]

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Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ customers

Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ customers in need of fertility treatment. Under the deal announced Friday, the insurer will make coverage of artificial insemination standard for all customers nationally and work to ensure that patients have equal access to more expensive in-vitro fertilization procedures, according to the National Women’s Law Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case. Aetna, the health insurance arm of CVS Health Corp., covers nearly 19 million people with commercial coverage, including employer-sponsored health insurance. The insurer will set aside a $2 million fund to reimburse people who […]

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How did the Biden administration just make health care fairer for LGBTQ+ people?

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The Biden-Harris administration announced Friday that it had finalized an essential update to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, significantly strengthening protections against discrimination in health care, especially for the LGBTQ+ community. This pivotal rule change reverses prior rollbacks under the Trump administration and establishes a new benchmark for inclusivity in health care access. Advocacy groups have praised the move. What is Section 1557? Section 1557 of the ACA is a critical nondiscrimination statute prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs or activities. It plays a vital role in ensuring equity within […]

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Evidence around youth gender care ‘remarkably weak’, major English review says

Medical evidence underlying gender care for adolescents is “remarkably weak” and provides little clarity on long-term outcomes, according to an in-depth review of care commissioned by England’s state-funded National Health Service. Gender care can include anything from counselling to medications related to gender issues, including drugs that can pause puberty. The final report of the Cass Review, led by prominent pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass and which includes research from independent academics at the University of York as well as input from families and clinicians was released on Wednesday. The report concludes that young people with gender dysphoria — the distress of identifying […]

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New research helps explain why lesbians report more orgasms than straight women

Research over the last decade has found that lesbians have more orgasms than straight women, but questions remained as to why.  A new study published this month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that these differences when it comes to pleasure could be in part due to sexual scripts — or what people expect to happen during sex based on what they’ve seen in movies, television or even pornography. Cisgender women’s expectations for those sexual scripts and for orgasms can vary based on the gender of their partner, the study found.  Past research has found that men have more orgasms than […]

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1 in 3 LGBTQ adults say they’ve been treated unfairly by a health care provider

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer adults are twice as likely as their non-LGBTQ counterparts to report having had negative health care experiences over the last three years, according to a new report. One-third (33%) of LGBTQ adults say they were treated unfairly or with disrespect or had at least one negative experience with a health care provider, compared to 15% of non-LGBTQ adults, according to a new report by KFF, a health care and polling nonprofit formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation.  Of the LGBTQ adults who reported negative experiences, 61% said a provider assumed something about them without […]

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A quarter of trans people have had health care disrupted in the past year

For the past several years, Republican lawmakers all over the country have been attacking transgender people’s access to gender-affirming health care, and soon half of the states in the U.S. will ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth.  However, the legislation is also having a negative effect on trans adults since many of the laws also attack their access to health care. A new study from Data for Progress found that 24% of transgender adults have had their access to gender-affirming care disrupted in the past year, and one in five said that they didn’t go to a doctor or the hospital when […]

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Older people, especially gay men, are getting more STIs than ever

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Infectious disease experts say more needs to be done to address rising STI rates in older people. The call to action will be presented next month at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease in Barcelona, Spain. In a press statement in advance of the conference, they explained what was happening… and suggested some reasons. For example, STIs in Americans aged 55 to 64 years have more than doubled over the past decade. It’s even worse for gonorrhea, rising from 15 cases per 100,000 people in 2015 to 57 per 100,000 in 2019. In England, the number of over 45s […]

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Republican anti-LGBTQ+ legislation bad for mental health and quality of life: survey

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After a record year for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at the state level and in a year that threatens to outdo it, LGBTQ+ Americans are seeing a negative impact on their mental health and quality of life, according to a new survey from Data for Progress. Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter. In 2023, more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the U.S., and more than 80 became law, by the Human Rights Campaign’s count. The number of bills introduced this year is approaching 500. Many of last year’s bills were […]

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